Late Card Payments Rise
To Near-Record Levels

a Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter

Updated Sept. 18, 1997 12:01 a.m. ET

NEW YORK -- Late payments on credit cards, which had declined during the first three months of the year, resurged to near-record levels during the second quarter, indicating that millions of consumers are still having trouble paying their credit-card bills.

Measured as a percentage of dollars outstanding, however, credit-card delinquencies slipped slightly. That suggests the impact on banks of more delinquent accounts is being muted somewhat by the growing level of credit-card debt among consumers who do pay their bills on...